On Valentine’s Day, it seems rather redundant to blog about love…but to not mention it at all would be rather Scrooge-like.

So I send this online Valentine to Sir Alexander Fleming, who on this very day — Valentine’s Day, 1929 — introduced penicillin to the world.

Maybe Alexander was mooning over his love that day in the lab when he left a plate of staphylococcus bacteria uncovered. He later noticed that a mold — penicillium notatum — had fallen upon it and killed many of the bacteria.

Penicillin was born, and future scientists would develop it into the medicinal form used to treat many serious diseases, like syphilis and the ever icky staph infection.

Isn’t that romantic.

Although I am personally allergic to penicillin, I still think Alexander deserves some recognition on his anniversary. If he hadn’t made such an important discovery in the field of medicine, a lot of folks wouldn’t be able to celebrate in a such a big way tonight…iffin you know what I mean.